Customizing and Automating Installations
In an organization with a large number of computers, it is more cost effective to automate the installation of Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional than it is to use the standard interactive Setup program to install it manually on individual computers. Windows 2000 Professional includes methods and tools that allow you to add specific components and applications to your installation and to distribute that customized installation to the end-user with little or no intervention. In Windows 2000 Professional, you customize your installation by using answer files and by adding files and applications of your choice to a distribution folder. There are a variety of tools that you can use to distribute customized Windows 2000 Professional installations to destination computers. The method you use depends on your current environment and needs.
In This Chapter
Quick Guide to Customizing and Automating Installations
Overview of Customizing and Automating Installations
Related Information in the Resource Kit
For more information about installing Windows 2000 Professional on a stand-alone computer, see Installing Windows 2000 Professional in this book.
For more information about creating answer files, see Sample Answer Files for Windows 2000 Professional Setup in this book.
For more information about planning Microsoft Windows 2000 deployments, see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit Deployment Planning Guide .